Mayoral Campaign -- Garcia Rises, Stringer Gets Hit Again, Morales Drama, Part 4 - Top aide jumps to Wiley, AOC And Bowman endorse , Turmoil is ‘Déjà Vu’ for Some Ex-Staff, Was Morales knifed in the back?

The Mayoral race is looking like the Belmont. A long mile and a half to go. Am I going to get canceled for comparing the candidates to horses? With Wiley taking a great leap, I expected some quick hit on her. And sure enough:

Lee Fang

@lhfang

· 20h

Maya Wiley, the NYC mayoral candidate who wants to cut $1 billion per year from police, pays for private security on her block in upscale Prospect Park South. A neighbor recounted her demands for more aggressive NYPD policing after her partner was mugged. https://nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-ope

This will be front page of the NY Post. But actually, Lee Fang misrepresents what the article was saying --- but Wiley will also have to respond and it will be a tough ride as she tries to thread a police reform needle.

 

Garcia is a sudden convert to the cause of charter schools, which have become, over the last two decades, emblems of the neoliberal project.... Garcia had no history discussing any kind of education issues before this mayoral race. She’s made it clear, thanks either to her genuine belief in charters or her awareness that rich people who support charters will donate to local campaigns, that’s where she stands now.... The editorial board[NYT] , which prides itself on its liberalism, did not seem to know or care that Garcia’s views on housing are not very different than Bloomberg’s—or even Adams or Yang’s, for that matter. Voters who take their cues from the Times may not care either. .... Ross Barkan, https://rossbarkan.substack.com/p/kathryn-garcia-reclaiming-the-neoliberal?

Garcia/Wiley rising, Yang/Stringer/Morales falling.

There are a few election lanes - the left/progressive with Wiley seizing control as Stringer/Morales fall, the right with Adams/Yang and the neo-liberal right-center with Garcia whom the NYT and Daily News endorsed. Reminder to Trumpies: The NYT is NOT LEFT. The business community apparently now sees Yang as a joke, incapable of managing this city. Capable management is at the top rung now which is helping Garcia and even keeping Stringer alive -- even from the business community which sees him as taking a progressive lane for this election and would move center if he wins. 

Ross points to Garcia on housing, which as we saw with Bloomberg who built built built often half empty housing while ignoring infrastructure to go with it, allowing public housing to go under in the hope that unliveable conditions will drive people to move to Florida, will make the city even more affordable and when there are no people, there is no commerce. Bloomberg is a major cause of homelessness and the city housing crisis.

Someone [Garcia] who believes landlords with millions of dollars in equity experience struggles similar to what tenants, many paying most of their income to rent, endure is not going to side with the working class. Garcia is a Park Slope home-owner, which likely makes her a millionaire on paper. The suffering of a city tenant isn’t something she can possibly know. And it’s not clear she wants to know it. It’s a myth that small, hard-working landlords control most of the housing stock in the five boroughs. They are not lavishly funding the Real Estate Board of New York.

Mulgrew ignores Garcia threat

It was interesting that the left and center occupied by Mulgrew have told people not to rank Yang or Adams but do not include Garcia who may echo Bloomberg more than anyone. Tell me again, which side is the UFT leadership really on when it ignores Garcia on the charter cap?

Ross Barkan:

For all the revolutions in politics today—the rise of the democratic socialists, the ascendance of AOC—the neoliberal approach, in municipal politics at least, has not left us. As predicted in the 1970s, CUNY never would be tuition-free again. The stock transfer tax, effectively ended in 1981, would not come back. The massive affordable housing projects of midcentury and earlier—Parkchester, Electchester, the Coops, Stuyvesant Town, Peter Cooper Village, the vast tracts of NYCHA housing—would be no more, replaced with market-rate development that would, from time to time, parcel out units to a few middle-class residents.

Barkan digs deeper than we've seen on Garcia - who in some ways is an empty vessel too - moving her politics to where the money is:

[Garcia's] platform has several progressive proposals.... But there is another Garcia, a truer Garcia—a manager, a technocrat, a neoliberal skeptical of the most fundamental safeguards against the violence of the free-market in a city that is chasing out its working class and poor. She doesn’t hide this, exactly—she’s a blunt person—but it comes out only with enough prodding. Garcia is a sudden convert to the cause of charter schools, which have become, over the last two decades, emblems of the neoliberal project. If government-run education is said to be failing, why not have the public pay for private schools and circumvent those nasty teachers’ unions? Charter schools did not exist in New York for almost the entirety of the 20th century. Now, we’ve been conditioned to believe that a school system can’t function without them. Yang and Adams are supporters of charters too, and the left-wing Dianne Morales actually founded one. Garcia had no history discussing any kind of education issues before this mayoral race. She’s made it clear, thanks either to her genuine belief in charters or her awareness that rich people who support charters will donate to local campaigns, that’s where she stands now.

Morales dramedy continues, as former employees are pro and con

The Morales dramedy continues to resonate as some top Morales people defected to Wiley so quickly, some are thinking conspiracy.  Dianne Morales’ NYC Mayoral Campaign Turmoil is ‘Déjà Vu’ for Some Ex-Staff - THE CITY   https://www.thecity.nyc/2021/6/1/22464152/morales-nyc-mayoral-campaign-turmoil-deja-vu-for-former-staff

THE CITY spoke to more than a dozen of Morales’ former staffers about their experiences at Phipps under her. Most wished to remain anonymous so they could speak freely without professional consequences. The people broadly fell into two camps: those who had been working at Phipps before Morales took over and detailed how she fostered a work environment rife with anxiety and mistrust, and those who praised what they called her inspiring, visionary leadership. The latter camp was made up overwhelmingly of employees she hired. ‘[It was] like the cult of Dianne.’ Overall, all the former employees agreed: Morales was charismatic, extremely smart and fiercely loyal to her people....
The progressive Democrat’s current woes reflect past management issues, some ex-employees said, while others defended her as a strong leader. Morales charges she’s being undermined, but is “managing the disruption.”

https://www.thecity.nyc/2021/6/1/22464152/morales-nyc-mayoral-campaign-turmoil-deja-vu-for-former-staff

Here are parts 1-3 where I pin some of the blame people connected to DSA. Ross Barkan led the "Morales is a faux leftist campaign." Part 3 digs deep --

• The Dianne Morales Drama Graphic - Part 3 - Hits C... 

• Dianne Morales, Part 2: Hits from the left - Ross...
• The Dianne Morales Mayoral Dramedy - an Ed Notes n...

There is no question that the implosion of the Morales campaign and the second charge against Scott Stringer, this one 30 years later - I know, I know, sometimes things need to marinate - have boosted Wiley to the top of the progressives. And yesterday with the endorsements of AOC and Bowman (both of whom had pulled their Stringer endorsements) Wiley now has an unencumbered progressive lane since even of people vote for Stringer or Morales I can see Wiley will be in the top 4 and will get the votes of progressives as they drop off, though according to Barkan, Garcia is fooling enough progressives to deny Wiley. (I was sort of shocked to see some lefty teacher friends choose Wiley and Garcia and some Wiley and Adams -- like the hard left NY State Nurses (NYSNA). A head scratcher.

I think Yang has crested and you see that the business community is not interested in him. The leader is still Adams and I'm going to bet that going into the final week it will be Adams, Garcia and Wiley maybe pulling even with Yang - a sort of right, center and left lineup. I might have actually ranked Garcia if she didn't take the strongest pro-charter stance of them all and joined parents who were demanding schools be open no matter what.

If Wiley starts rising quickly in the polls, I expect somewhere, some way a political hit on her -- some kid she knew in 6th grade will accuse her of grabbing his balls.

More historical perspective from Ross Barkan:

Since 1975, every mayor of New York City has been something of a neoliberal. These men may have varied by party or vision—a couple hewing left while others took a more ruthless approach—but all ultimately governed under the constraints foisted upon them by the era we still live in today. The difference between the left-leaning Democrats (David Dinkins and Bill de Blasio) and the oligarch-friendly Republicans (Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg) could only be so dramatic when a certain segment of the power elite was determining the course of events...The social democratic era, buoyed by New Deal largesse under Fiorello La Guardia and continuing through a number of liberal Republican and Democratic mayors, abruptly came to a halt when the city nearly went bankrupt. The crisis mattered because it would reorder the city’s politics indefinitely: instead of expanding the social safety net and creating new services for the working class and poor, the new aim of the modern city would be to make it as attractive as possible to capital. Economic growth would be the new religion, with tax breaks showered on wealthy men like Donald Trump....

Some sidelights

I was out with a bunch of old colleagues and one of them was ranting against teachers in general and claimed gold-bricking -- that they just didn't want to go into work and should have been made to and fired if they didn't. A former chapter leader, yet. Oy! There's troubling times ahead

Stringer probably did something. Men are sleaze, me included.

Did he pat the ass of an 18 year old waitress working for him when he was 32 and then sort of ask her out and plant unwanted kisses which she rejected - I think that is very possible. Look, I'm even older than boomers and guys used to be told that girls had to reject you at least once - or more - to appear pure. Today is my 50th anniversary and I'm thinking back to our first date almost 53 years ago when we made out on Campus road behind Brooklyn College. I asked her if she told me NO on the first move I made --- which was so inept, I'm surprised we lasted that evening.

Below is the full City article:

A charter school comeback? Top NYC candidates support the alternative schools - Politico/New York

After years in the wilderness of the de Blasio administration and waning influence in Albany, charter schools are gaining a foothold in the city again — if the race for mayor is any barometer.

The three leading candidates in the Democratic primary are decidedly supportive of charter schools — a dramatic shift from when Mayor Bill de Blasio was elected eight years ago and another sign of the citywide electorate hewing closer to the center in the June 22 Democratic primary.

Last week, “Our City” — a left-leaning political action committee headed by Gabe Tobias — hosted a rally urging New Yorkers to not rank Adams or Yang, referencing the candidates' support from hedge fund billionaires linked to school privatization.  ... Politico

Of course, They're in it for the children

With the latest charge against Stringer -- how more perfectly timed could they be, 20 and 30 years after the fact -- the charter industrial complex is in great position to renew the charter wars. 

Even as charters see a new dawn of sorts this election season, there is still a movement of families and advocates who remain wary of charter growth and are taking steps of their own to fight it. City Comptroller Scott Stringer remains a strong candidate in the race and his skepticism over charters was among the factors that won him the endorsement of the United Federation of Teachers — the city’s powerful teachers union which is helping fund a multimillion dollar, independent expenditure in support of his campaign.

The more charges against Stringer, the better a charter comeback looks. With him and Morales damaged, the best progressive shot might be Wiley - but don't be shocked to see something drop on her in the next week.

The charters have been given renewal by the awful manner in which de Blasio handled the schools during the pandemic and have opened up a dangerous channel of support from people who would risk trying something new as an alternative to any mayor running things for them. Thus the door is open to privatizing as it hasn't been since the height of the Bloomberg years. In three years the jobs crunch will come for the UFT which should take a message from the Chicago Teacher Union which actually has a clue on how to organize charter schools.

https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2021/06/02/a-charter-school-comeback-top-nyc-candidates-support-the-alternative-schools-1384871

 

Former UFT High-Up reveals thinking about Dem Progressives, echoing Pelosi and Dem Center-right - Prep for Attack on opposition next year

If you don't think there's war has been and is brewing - and will continue to brew in the Dem Party -- this one's for you.

In a listserve discussion of mayoral candidates, those in support of charters were being identified and echoing one of her blog posts, Diane Ravitch said,  "Morales said she favors school choice, so strike her. "  

Note: On the debate Morales took the strongest stand AGAINST charters, but some progressives have doubted her true commitment.

But then this comment came from a now retired person who was very tight with the UFT hierarchy until retirement:

She [Morales] should not even be a candidate...thank the so-called circular firing squad Dem progressives that are driving our City into the ground more than any GOP ever did!

Yes there is much disdain for progressives inside the UFT leadership and Unity Caucus. You can see that on social media where Unity hacks chime in to challenge progressive ideas --- and all of them echo the same talking points - it's like Unity has its own FOX news propaganda channel. Oh, that's the NY Teacher. Thank goodness no one reads it.

 

So imagine how they view the opposition, which varies on various levels of the left

--  if there is a credible threat to Unity in next year's UFT elections, just watch the fur fly with red-baiting  ala Republican playbook - being played out. In fact Trump may be writing the Unity script - and if the opposition every did win, Unity will be calling Stop the Steal and invade the Delegate Assembly by climbing the walls of 52 Broadway with grappling tools.

 

The Dianne Morales Drama Graphic - Part 3 - Hits Came from the Left - Evidence points to DSA - The Question is Why?

“We learned a lesson,” said Susan Kang, an active member of Democratic Socialists of America who previously was supportive of Morales. “You don’t go with an unvetted first-time candidate who tries to claim the progressive mantle when you have never seen them before.”

Gabe Tobias, a former campaign aide to both Ocasio-Cortez and Bowman, is now working on an effort to educate voters about how the city’s new ranked-choice-voting system will work and telling them to leave moderate candidates like Yang and Adams off of their ballots. But even those moderates, he notes, talk about left-wing ideas like reforming the NYPD and meaningfully addressing poverty in the city. And had someone like Ocasio-Cortez or Bowman or Public Advocate Jumaane Williams run, he said, they would likely have been cleaning up in this race.

“The candidate is the problem to solve,” he said. “Not the ideology.”... Dianne Morales and the Implosion of the Left in NYC’s Mayoral Race

June 2, 2021

Why? The simple answer is Morales' lack of history on the left created suspicion she was a faux leftist using a left lane in an opportunistic way.

Parts 1 and 2 of the series on the Dianne Morales mayoral campaign situation: 

•  The Dianne Morales Mayoral Dramedy - an Ed Notes n...Part 1
• Dianne Morales, Part 2: Hits from the left - Ross...
• 
  

Follow the bouncing ball in the graphic above. Today we get into the nitty gritty of who did what to whom. DSA provided a lot of staffers for Morales and, in particular the Queens branch. Did sentiment inside DSA toward Morales shift away from her? Realizing her activism was short-lived but as long as she was not attracting attention, they could live with her. But as she began to make headway, what was viewed as a faux leftist became a possible threat to the DSA long-term project which is to infiltrate the Dem party with socialist ideals and candidates. They have strength in certain areas of the city to be able to elect state senators, assembly, congress and this year focused on city council. They were clear they would stay out of the mayoral race due to lack of resources but even if they did get involved on a citywide basis, it is not clear they hierarchy would have backed Morales since her career was so far from socialist ideals. 

It is interesting to see what has come out of MORE Caucus which seemed to be backing Morales. She gave them an hour interview and they castigated the UFT leadership for not including her in their final four. At the May DA a reso from a MORE ally called for Stringer to be dropped from UFT endorsement and I did read some MORE comment calling for Morales to be reconsidered. (I can't verify where I read that.) The key thing is that MORE is loaded with DSA people and they run MORE. Forming unions is of the highest priority and the DSA labor group is loaded with MOREs. So how to square the revolt by people calling for a union with support for Morales? If MORE is silent on Morales now after pushing her, there is a signal of DSA abandonment.

Before we go into more detail I'd like you to check out the new version of Rising in its first edition since Krystal and Sagaar did their final show on Friday. I was pleased to see Ryan Grim repping the left and I like Emily Jashinsky for the right.  

Ryan delved into the Morales campaign mess and castigated the activists. In this must see video Ryan breaks news with a story of a similar revolt in Bernie's Iowa campaign where Bernie said - don't hire so-called activists who often put themselves and their interests ahead of the campaign -- the ME generation, I guess. Since so many were from DSA, these socialists weren't acting very social. I mean, you join a campaign a month ago and with a month left you want a union?

[UPDATE - In today's Rising Ryan goes deep into the charges against Stringer and the connections to is accusers lawyer to billionare anti-Stringer Steve Ross who formed an anti-Stringer PAC https://youtu.be/bjbY8iWjoPY].

On the other side, Morales brought into the campaign her personal assistant, Amanda van Kessel, who felt she had special rights and most likely came into conflict with campaign manager Witney Hu. Both are from Queens branch of DSA so that makes it interesting.

“We learned a lesson,” said Susan Kang, an active member of Democratic Socialists of America who previously was supportive of Morales. “You don’t go with an unvetted first-time candidate who tries to claim the progressive mantle when you have never seen them before.” The collapse of the Morales campaign signals a low moment for a resurgent left that not long ago looked set to dominate the race for mayor this year. Back in 2020, New York’s financial and real-estate elites were so concerned that this year’s mayoral election would herald a sharp leftward turn in city politics that some of them started meeting together in secret, trying to figure out how many millions of dollars to deploy to fend off the rising tide.... With the mayoral election less than four weeks away, the furrowed brows of Wall Street can unclench. The spectacle of the Morales campaign staff blowing up their own candidate seems to mark the end of any dream of a leftist victory in the June 26 Democratic primary, and many of the progressive organizers and activists who worked years for this moment are left to look only with despair at the waning days of this race......

For most of the past year, progressive hope was centered on Scott Stringer, who, as a 60-year-old straight white male city comptroller with a long career in government and a comptroller’s flair for spectacle, didn’t exactly fit the young, diverse, and hype-house mood of the moment. Stringer was surging when his campaign was derailed by an accusation that he sexually harassed a volunteer on a 2001 campaign for public advocate. The left-wing lawmakers whom he helped put into office in 2018 and 2020 by backing them early and campaigning vigorously on their behalf quickly abandoned him (even as some have since expressed regrets for acting hastily.)

Morales seemed like a better fit. An Afro-Latina, she, like Bowman and Ocasio-Cortez, came from outside politics. Unlike Stringer, she had never taken money from real-estate interests (Stringer swore off the donations once the campaign got under way), argued that the police “don’t keep us safe,” and pledged to defund $3 billion from their annual budget while creating “a care economy.”... had someone like Ocasio-Cortez or Bowman or Public Advocate Jumaane Williams run, he said, they would likely have been cleaning up in this race.

“The candidate is the problem to solve,” he said. “Not the ideology.”.... NY Mag

The hot mess in the Dianne Morales mayoral campaign: I began writing this article a month ago. "A month ago", you ask? All the current drama over her campaign came out in the past week. Well, there was other stuff way before. And throughout, when you'd expect attacks on the most progressive candidate to come from  the right and center, I was seeing the critiques coming from the left. And they rang true, while the current revelelations from her former staff, many of whom are connected to DSA Queens branch, need further examination, especially given some of the tactics - like demonstrating outside Morales headquarters and demands for severance pay for people who quit, demands for a union, and more.

Earlier in her career, our "most progressive" primary candidate worked at New Visions for Public Education, the privatizing non-profit that profited handsomely during those dark years of school closings.

As a general rule, it's wise to be skeptical of, if not allergic to, non-profit/NGO leftists...

https://www.theuprising.info/p/time-for-self-care-dianne-morales 

I'm always cautious about the kinds of attacks and where they come from.

But from day one I was wary of the fact she had a high profile job with Joel Klein and I remember complaints from parents over the actions of that agency she was in charge of though I can't say for sure if it was under her tenure which seemed to not last very long.

What is interesting are the attacks are from progressives who doubt her progressive credentials. 

It is possible she got religion in the past year and a half after a career that didn't indicate progressive politics.

 

Like no endorsements of people like AOC or Bowman or others. And hedging on whether she voted for Cuomo. They view her as an opportunist who took the lane left open. 

There is a lot of info about Diane's links to charter school industry people in this article.

 

https://vulgarmarxism.substack.com/p/private-equity-the-dianne-morales?fbclid=IwAR1WISP8A4WMhX4j6W9KRNatT6lVzUBuyuMF4pNrLRr9qKhhmLmS5JHkRxE

She also came under  fire on a podcast with Brianna Joy Tayler, with fire from a tenant organizer who said her boss had the highest eviction rate in the Bronx.

MORE Caucus called on UFT to cancel Stringer and replace him with Morales 

There's been a lot more reporting on the story since but I thought this NYMag story is worth a read.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/05/dianne-morales-and-the-lefts-implosion-in-nyc-mayoral-race.html

the city politic May 28, 2021

Dianne Morales and the Implosion of the Left in NYC’s Mayoral Race

By David Freedlander

Dianne Morales, Part 2: Hits from the left - Ross Barkan

May 31, 2021 - I posted Part 1 on Morales yesterday

The Dianne Morales Mayoral Dramedy - an Ed Notes never ending serial - Part 1 - the NYT Take - Attacks on Progressives

Apparently there are some people - some white people - who feel I have no right to post critical pieces about a woman of color. The same kind of attitude that allowed Neo-liberal in Chief Obama to skate by. With every passing day as I hear more stories -- like his labor cabinet member Tom Perez, taking a legal job with a major anti-union firm focused on stopping unions from being established. Or press spokesman Jay Carney running PR for Bezos. 

Whereas a progressive candidate like Morales would expect to take hits from the right, she seems to be getting them from the left not just for not being a true leftist, but for not being involved in any of the major struggles over the past 20 years, even going back to two years ago.

But given the state of the candidates I will still put her as one of my choices. 

Here are two Ross Barkan articles a month or so apart, with the latest from today coming first but read the older one for context since it predates the events of the past week but may have been the first real shot. Part 3 will delve into more details on the current crisis.

https://rossbarkan.substack.com/p/its-not-enough-to-talk-like-the-left?

It's Not Enough to Talk Like the Left

On the perils of the Dianne Morales campaign

Ross Barkan May 31

The Dianne Morales Mayoral Dramedy - an Ed Notes never ending serial - Part 1 - the NYT Take - Attacks on Progressives

A quick summary before we start:

A key person we need to pay attention to is Amanda van Kessel who worked with Morales at her previous job and still works there. She used her relationship apparently to lord it over others. She's also white in a sea of people of color. She was first demoted and then fired. She's also DSA, as was the campaign manager, Whitney Hu, who quit. It is not clear if she quit because van Kessel was fired or because she wasn't fired quickly enough. But both are Queens branch DSA --- which I am also a fringe member of. Oh, the drama to come there as many other Morales staffers also came out of DSA Queens branch.

May 30, 2021, 9 AM

The Morales campaign implosion, apparently unique in political lore, is going to have consequences for how some campaigns are organized in the future. There are lessons about bringing good friends into a campaign. See what happened to Scott Stringer whose supposed friend, Jean Kim, who he says he had a brief relationship with, turned on him 20 years later and imploded his campaign. 

Let me say right up front - I've always had doubts about Morales but this strikes me as a hit job and I intend to pick her as one of my mayoral choices.

Lesson 1: Beware of friends in high campaign places

NYT... two campaign staff members, Ramses Dukes and Amanda van Kessel, had been dismissed. She said they were the employees accused of misconduct. Ms. van Kessel had previously worked with Ms. Morales at the social services arm of Phipps Houses, a housing development group. Mr. Dukes could not be reached for comment, and Ms. van Kessel did not respond to requests for comment.

The two leading progressives in the race have had their campaigns undermined. It is ironic that Morales and many of her supported immediately attacked Stringer and are now claiming Dianne needs a chance to explain. Ironic in that one person charged Stringer while 60 complained about Morales -- obviously not as serious a charge but numbers do count. If no other shoe drops on Stringer, on June 23, when Stringer who had been in the running loses because of that one charge and we end up with who knows who, we might see a reassessment of how to deal with the metoo movement.

I'm going to examine the Morales story in depth because there are many lessons for progressives. Was this a hit by the left, led by DSA members who felt that Morales was a faux leftist - which I have come to believe - but if they didn't know what they were getting into it's on them. Morales has become an instant leftist - she voted for Cuomo and didn't endorse any of the new leftist candidates - but DSA people, including her campaign manager, knew that going in.

In Part 1 I want to share the NYT take which with the comments is an attack on progressives. (Remember - the Times endorsed Garcia who has promised to lift the charter school cap -- do not even list her.) And not all if it is undeserved though we have a lot of unpacking to do. I mean,  a campaign is not a long-term job and some staffers have only recently been hired. A union in the midst of a campaign with one month to go? That's progressiveness gone too far.

Comments at NYT emphasize the anti-progressive pov:

This sounds like sabotage at the highest level. Trying to unionize with four weeks left in the campaign? The staff knows they are sabotaging more than this race; her career is on the line, her name splashed all over the media while the team gets to walk away & join a different campaign. Sad state of affairs all around.

------

Welcome to progressivism 101. Any success is met with claims of “toxic workplace.” The very values one holds get weaponized against you by people who don’t like it when they don’t feel “centered”. And because you built your campaign on “centering” everyone, you can’t call it what it actually is: selfishness, when they don’t like the fact that you are actually the boss and have to make decisions. It’s lose/lose. And why progressives- despite caring deeply about actual policy, will never win.

----

This is why kids with no experience doing anything probably shouldn’t gain control of large governments. Reading through Twitter feeds of her staffers reads like the angry message boards of high schoolers upset about a school dress code.

---

Was really excited about Morales....but she is turning out to be yet another DeBlasio: all talk, 0 action, and considers herself above it all. Depressing to say the least.

---

She messed up with handling this, but I will say it is peak irony that a "progressive" candidate is sunk by her own truly progressive staff. Also, I agree with the post from the portland guy talking about activist politics. I have seen the exact same thing. It's like my pops always said: "When you're a hammer, everything is a nail." Activist staffers can make for virtually ungovernable teams leaving leaders stuck between a rock and a hard place. The devolution into chaos can be swift thereafter.

-----

I stopped calling myself a progressive when I saw this same circular firing squad happening over and over again in activist politics here in Portland. Noble objectives, but terrible tactics and ungovernable team dynamics hamper the progressive movement’s ability to make change happen.

 More to come in parts 2 through infinity.

Here's the entire article:

Dianne Morales Tries to Calm a Sudden Crisis in Her Campaign

Two staff members have quit, two have been fired and four others involved in a unionization drive have been terminated.

 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/27/nyregion/dianne-morales-mayor-campaign.html

 

Video - Retiree Advocate Press Conference Fight to Keep Medicare

Friday, May 28, 2021, 9:30 PM

Over 150 retirees attended the press conference on Monday protesting the attempt to move 250K NYC municipal retirees out of medicare into privatized insurance plans (remember how well privatizing school systems via charters has worked out).

Here's the video of the entire event. Excellent speakers and great specially written songs - Imagine No Health Care -- 

https://youtu.be/3TeK67SwRVw

 In case you're catching up here are ed notes posts recently:

• Retiree Update: MLC and City at Impasse over which...
• UFT/Unity Troll Opposition, sometimes on our dime
• Final Call for Monday Noon press conference: Do No...
• Monday Noon near City Hall: Media Advisory: Press ...
• VOTE NOW FOR RETIREE ADVOCATE/UFT SLATE IN RETIREE...

And here are Gloria's comments:

Watch the Retiree Advocate's Press Conference from Monday, May 24th: https://youtu.be/3TeK67SwRVw

It was a quite a success with about 150 people attending including a large and loud group of members from the DC 37- Retiree Association. Their President Ed Hysyk and Vice President Neil Frumkin spoke. Many PSA retirees were there and of course, UFT retirees were out in force. Probably some other unions were in the crowd.

Other speakers included David Kotelchuck from the Social Safety Net Committee of PSC-CUNY, Mariana Gaston from the CSA, Dr. Alec Pruchnicki, a board member for Physicians for National Health Care, Denise Rickles and Bennett Fischer, UFT Retiree Advocates, and Naomi Zewde, Asst.Professor from CUNY and advocate for the New York Health Act.

We did get some media attention which is no small feat in NYC. The Chief News came as did WBAI. WPIX-11 also covered it and had a short clip on the Monday night news. We heard that Channel 4 reported it and there might have been other media as well.

Our incredible Sound Man Joel Breitbart not only brought his system but he recorded the entire Conference. And the People's Dave Lippman was an added bonus. He composed a few songs just for this occasion and performed them for the crowd.

https://www.facebook.com/775999740/videos/10161231050159741/

Ann Ambia, a DC 37 Retiree, took pictures which we have posted on our RA Facebook page. There were other people with cameras and we look forward to getting more photos so we can share them with you.

https://www.facebook.com/retireeadvocateuft

Finally, this could not have happened without the efforts of so many of our RA folks!

Thank you and we must continue this fight!

We Say NO to privatization of our Medicare

PS Don't forget to mail in your UFT Retiree Chapter Election ballot

 

Gloria Brandman

 

Ravitch on NYC Mayoral Race and Charters Piling in

Dianne Morales has pitched herself as the most progressive candidate in the field, but neglects to mention that she was a Pahara Fellow or that she has long-standing ties to charter world... Diane Ravitch

I've been sleptical about Morales but will get deeper into those weeds soon. The charter industry has evil intent -- to destroy public schools and offer them up to private industry. Any candidate who takes money from them is suspect.

What campaign other than Stringer has no charter money? That alone tells you something. Charters are anti union - 95% non union. And anti public schools. The goal is to charterize which is privatize the nation and eliminate teacher unions. Like they did in New Orleans and fired mostly black union members. Funded by billionaires. Here in nyc coalitions have managed to hold the line and charters are a dirty word in some quarters. Even the Uft has been weak and we formed a pre More group called GEM to engage them in battle and push the Uft. The charter cap is what’s holding them back and protecting your jobs. They are spreading money around to candidates for that purpose. The honorable thing to do is refuse their money. The BloomKlein admin was a despicable neo liberal operation and Disnevtook a high position in that admin which is what caused my initial reaction. But let’s give her a benefit of the doubt though I have tried to discern an explanation. She also worked for New Visions and during the school closing wars of attacks on poor communities they were on the wrong side. To watch kids crying and begging for their schools to remain open was searing. I have hours of tape of those hearings and we used that footage which also included abused parents who left charters crying in our interview in our movie.

 

@eapelosi asked a meaningful question

@eapelosi asked a meaningful question. What campaign other than Stringer has no charter money? That alone tells you something. Charters are anti union - 95% non union. And anti public schools. The goal is to charterize which is privatize the nation and eliminate teacher unions. Like they did in New Orleans and fired mostly black union members. Funded by billionaires. Here in nyc coalitions have managed to hold the line and charters are a dirty word in some quarters. Even the Uft has been weak and we formed a pre More group called GEM to engage them in battle and push the Uft. The charter cap is what’s holding them back and protecting your jobs. They are spreading money around to candidates for that purpose. The honorable thing to do is refuse their money. The BloomKlein admin was a despicable neo liberal operation and Disnevtook a high position in that admin which is what caused my initial reaction. But let’s give her a benefit of the doubt though I have tried to discern an explanation. She also worked for New Visions and during the school closing wars of attacks on poor communities they were on the wrong side. To watch kids crying and begging for their schools to remain open was searing. I have hours of tape of those hearings and we used that footage which also included abused parents who left charters crying in our interview in our movie

Ka-Ching! The Charter Lobby Buys into NYC’s Mayoral Race by dianeravitch

 

In a crowded field of candidates in the Democratic primary, only two are opposed to expanding the number of charters in a city with hundreds of them: Scott Stringer and Maya Wiley.

The other candidates support more charters at a time when the national Democratic Party seems to realize that charters are a key component of the rightwing’s longtime goal of privatization of the public schools. Charter advocates started a PAC for Eric Adams. Andrew Yang supports charter schools and is advised by former Mayor Bloomberg’s advisor Bradley Tusk (Bloomberg was very pro-charter). Financier Ray McGuire’s campaign relies on Bloomberg’s chancellor Joel Klein for advice (his wife is the campaign manager).

Betsy DeVos loves charter schools, so does the anti-union Walton family and Charles Koch. Across the country, Republican legislators and governors are passing legislation to expand charters and vouchers, while Democrats put public schools first.

This article explains how deeply entangled one of the candidates is with the charter industry. Dianne Morales has pitched herself as the most progressive candidate in the field, but neglects to mention that she was a Pahara Fellow or that she has long-standing ties to charter world.

Those ties are now producing an outpouring of contributions from the charter industry. And Kathryn Garcia, who was endorsed by the New York Times and the New York Daily News, declared recently that she wants more charter schools in the city and will ask the legislature to raise the cap.

There are currently 267 charter schools in the city. Of 1.1 million public schools in the city, 88% are enrolled in the long-neglected public schools. Ironically, by handing off more students to charter schools, the mayor (whoever it may be) is acknowledging his or her own incompetence as leader of the city’s schools.

At the beginning of the campaign, Scott Stringer was the favorite. He served in the legislature, and he is currently the City Comptroller, meaning he has detailed knowledge of the budget and the city’s massive bureaucracy. The United Federation of Teachers endorsed him, along with many progressive groups. But then a woman stepped forward to say that 20 years ago, when they were both single, he groped her. Many of those who endorsed Stringer withdrew their endorsements. Although I have a tendency to believe women in these situations, I think it’s unfair to discredit a candidate based on an unverified allegation. Stringer has been a candidate many times, and the accuser remained silent.

The charter industry has demonstrated time and again that it has the deep pockets to buy elections. What it has not bought is academic success.

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Retiree Update: MLC and City at Impasse over which private health care to use, negotiations on hold

Someone posted this info -- the battle is between Aetna and Emblem --- we don't know which group the city or MLC favor -- I assume the city favors the one that will screw us the most. Was it our pressure? Not likely according to sources but on the other hand the pressure might have firmed up the MLC a bit to resist to some extent, though they are still going ahead.

I am guessing the city wants Aetna which is probably worse than Emblem, which at least many of us have dealt with. Isn't Aetna our dental plan, which sucks? I don't really remember and am too lazy to look it up.

The problem is it now goes to arbitration and the fact is we get screwed either way.

UFT/Unity Troll Opposition, sometimes on our dime

The UFT has apparently assigned people to monitor social media for critics and to respond in kind defending UFT leadership positions. Do they get paid extra? Maybe they need a union. DOE employees have been hounded for their social media posts even when off time.

Do people who work for us (supposedly) have the right to engage in attacks on UFT members who are critical of union policies? By virtue of being paid a salary - and not an insubstantial salary -- is part of their job to defend the UFT leadership on social media?

UFT officials at work

It would seem so as the other day I noticed on certain FB teacher chats a battle over some policy of other in which people who clearly work for the UFT attacking a critic, with one calling the critic anti-union. And when I looked at the time, it was clearly during working hours for UFT staff -- which for many is until 6PM.

If they were working for the DOE they would be in the rubber room. Maybe our union needs a rubber room. 

But what if they do this after working hours? Do they have free speech even if working for the UFT? An interesting question and I generally come down on the side of they do --- but I question if trolling for the leadership is really free speech.

Trolling means you are following a line --- talking points - we know they are because they are all so similar. Thus if the leadership says night is day, they all put on their shades. And if they reverse position they adamantly defend the position they were recently attacking.

Remember the common core and how punchy Mike defended it, only to abandon that defense not long after?

So is it really free speech when you are being handed a script?

Final Call for Monday Noon press conference: Do Not Privatize Our Medicare - and some reason why

 

Monday Noon near City Hall: Media Advisory: Press conference to save Medicare for NYC Municipal workers

Join us Monday and make sure to vote RA in chapter election. The more people who are there the more impact.

VOTE NOW FOR RETIREE ADVOCATE/UFT SLATE IN RETIREE CHAPTER ELECTION

Yes, a vote for us is a vote for stopping some of the crap that is going on.

Monday will be a rare day where I will venture forth from my fortress to join other municipal retirees, many from the UFT, in a press conference to focus attention on the move toward moving us from public Medicare to privatized Medicare Advantage, the very wrong direction our union should be going in.

I helped write more detailed info piece. click here.

This advisory, which I helped put together (this entire process had been a real learning experience for this old dog)  is going out to the press.

From:  RetireeAdvocate/UFT   RetireeAdvocate@gmail.com  Visit us on Facebook

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

Media Advisory: Press conference to save Medicare for NYC Municipal workers

Press Contacts:

Bennett Fischer (tremblychap@gmail.com)

Prudence Hill (pruhill@yahoo.com)

Norm Scott (normsco@gmail.com)

WHAT: NYC municipal union retirees gather to save Medicare and protest Municipal Labor Committee/NYC attempt to force them out of Medicare into privatized Medicare Advantage plan.

WHEN:  Monday, May 24, 2021

TIME: 12 Noon

WHO: Retiree Advocate/UFT, a caucus of retirees in the United Federation of Teachers and allies in other municipal unions and supporters defend our ability to remain on Medicare and reject attempts to move us to a privatized plan.

WHERE: Park Row/Centre St. outside City Hall Park by the 4/5/6 City Hall/Brooklyn Bridge Subway Station

DEMANDS:

A moratorium on any change to existing Medicare plan

NO to privatization of government managed Medicare 

Transparency on all negotiations with decision-making from all members

The Metropolitan Labor Council (MLC), consisting of a number of unions, including the UFT, and the NYC Office of Labor Relations are in the final stages of negotiations to move 250,000 municipal workers currently enrolled in government-managed Medicare into privately-managed Medicare Advantage with inherent disadvantages:

·       High administrative costs

·       Profit motive

·       Excessive executive salaries

·       Restrictions on patient services

We condemn unions’ willingness to move away from public to privatization of government-manages Medicare. Supposed savings can only come on the backs of retirees. Stop the sell! Save traditional Medicare for NYC retirees!

For further information, click here.

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This is not going out to the press:

To clear up a bit of confusion for some. While we whistle while we work we are under a private plan which continues when we retire - until we reach 65 when we go onto Medicare for 80% of our health care - I haven't heard any complaints and 98% of doctors take it. The other 20% co-pay is still privately managed.

Before reaching 65 we generally had a choice of GHI where we have more freedom to choose our doctors and a more restricted HIP plan where your doctors have to be part of the network and you need permissions to go to specialists. Some are very happy with HIP.

And the UFT leadership has used the fact that we have had privately managed care as a way to attack us for making a mountain out of a molehill. We are not.

Neo-lib Dems like Clinton wanted to save money on our backs and in the 90s allowed private insurance to offer Medicare type plans on their own to compete with Medicare -- with the obvious aim of killing Medicare off altogether. This causes some confusion for people hitting 65 and I get calls all the time about what to do, upon with I ask my wife who managed medical billing in a large hospital for decades who then shouts - tell them NO - stick with Medicare.

Funny, but as recently as March when a Retiree Advocate member went for a meeting at the UFT they were being told the same thing -- stay away from Medicare Advantage plans. Some are scams in essence.

So low and behold as we are in the final stages of the UFT retiree chapter election, we begin to hear that the Municipal Labor Committee, where Mulgrew is VP, is about to announce a forced move out of Medicare into a MedADV plan and people are reprising our youth in the 60s:

HELL NO WE WON'T GO!!